Weekly Recap #23: January 25th, 2016

Hello, fellow Star Wars fans! We’re here again for another Monday and another recap. Its been a little slow this week but we have Rogue One and Episode VIII news. Remember as always spoilers abound.

1) Starwars.com has announced they are moving the release date of Episode VIII until Dec 15th 2017

davestrrr: This was kind of a shock to me. I must admit I was a little disappointed and worried that RJ would have to finagle his script to fit some other expectations. I’m hoping now that this is for the best. An extra seven months will hopefully be enough time to hammer out the details, and with the success of TFA on this release date hopefully portends a similar success of SW8. That and the fact that Rogue One and SW8 would have been released too close to each other with the initial plan. This may be for the best.

mazlow01: This is awesome. I loved having Star Wars this December and I think this will lead to all of the Star Wars films being released in December. This also gives them plenty of time to make things perfect. Which is fantastic.

2) USAToday has an interview with Donnie Yen and he discusses his Rogue One role

davestrrr: I guess with this one we have to wonder about what he means by “the Force is with me”. Is he a Jedi? I guess we have heard from Gareth Edwards that there are no Jedi in this one, but could he be an ex-Jedi or some sort of Force user? For me, it would be amazing if there was a way to have Ahsoka in this one. That would be the best way to end her story if she died helping retrieve the plans for the Death Star. I think it would be a fitting end to that character. As for Donnie Yen, this guy is a pretty big deal especially in China. Hopefully we see some cool martial arts from this guy.

mazlow01: I really like the way Rogue One is shaping up. Its going to be a completely different Star Wars movie. The casting of Donnie Yen just shows me how much Lucasfilm and Disney are committed to giving us something great.

3) MakingStarWars has a break down of the information from Meet the Movie Press about the Episode VIII Re-write and new actress being cast for one of the new roles.

davestrrr: Some good points. I will say the “Meet the Movie Press” video came out before anyone else was talking about a delay in filming. For that reason, give some props to those guys for pushing this story early. I’m sure many factors went into this delay, and there are a lot of smart people on board, so hopefully it works out for the best.

mazlow01: I think the re-write will end up just adding Poe to scenes with Finn that previously had just Finn and the new Female lead. As far as an Asian actress I think that just shows the commitment to diversity that Disney and Lucasfilm has.

4) IndieRevolver has reported about a deleted scene from TFA.

davestrrr:  Pretty cool. I think it would have added something interesting if Maz was shown to use the Force in this one. She would have been more of the Yoda character than she already is. Maybe they are saving her Force powers until Episode 8? I will say that this scene would have made it more interesting that she has Luke’s saber, both because of her connection to the Force, and the fact that she probably opened a can on some people to get it.

mazlow01: I really hope that this scene is one the BluRay extras. I also hope that by cutting it that doesn’t mean they get rid of her powers. I want her to meet up with Luke and maybe train Finn?